released a statement accusing Miami of tampering<\/a>, citing \u201ccredible information\u201d and threatening to pursue legal action. The Big Ten backed Wisconsin in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n\u201cAs alleged, the University of Miami knowingly ignored contractual obligations and disregarded the principle of competitive equity that is fundamental to collegiate athletics,\u201d the Big Ten said. \u201cThe Big Ten Conference believes that the University of Miami\u2019s actions are irreconcilable with a sustainable college sports framework and is supportive of UW-Madison\u2019s efforts to preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Miami representative declined to comment on the report of Friday\u2019s lawsuit because the school had not been served papers yet.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, as well as \u201ca declaration that Miami\u2019s conduct directed towards (Lucas) constituted tampering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucas unenrolled from Wisconsin after school officials denied multiple requests from him and his attorney, Darren Heitner, to place his name in the transfer portal during the 20-day winter window (Dec. 9-28). Wisconsin maintains it told Lucas and his mother it would not put his name into the portal because of the two-year NIL contract he signed in December.<\/p>\n
In the lawsuit filed Friday, Wisconsin alleges Miami\u2019s \u201cwrongful conduct\u201d led to Lucas\u2019 reaching out to a Wisconsin assistant coach on the evening of Dec. 17 \u2014 two days after returning home to South Florida for winter break \u2014 and asking to be placed in the transfer portal.<\/p>\n
A day later, Lucas \u201coffered a personal, family-related reason for wanting to enter the transfer portal\u201d in a text message. Three days later, however, a relative of Lucas\u2019 contacted a Wisconsin coach and provided information \u201cinconsistent with his family-related rationale for seeking to transfer,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges Lucas told his position coach before heading home for winter break that he had been contacted by other schools to enter the portal but \u201creaffirmed that he was committed to UW-Madison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wisconsin said it obtained information indicating that Miami had impermissible contact with Lucas and his representatives on multiple occasions in December and January, including sending a coach and \u201cprominent Miami alumnus\u201d to Lucas\u2019 South Florida home; and offering him a \u201cmore lucrative\u201d compensation package than the one Wisconsin was paying him.<\/p>\n
Lucas enrolled in classes at Miami in January and participated in the Hurricanes\u2019 spring football practice in March and April. The sophomore, who had 18 tackles as a freshman, is expected to be one of Miami\u2019s best defensive players this fall.<\/p>\n
The NCAA said in January that its rules \u201ccould not prevent a student-athlete from unenrolling from an institution, enrolling at a new institution and competing immediately.\u201d Wisconsin, though, was not punished for keeping Lucas\u2019 name out of the portal.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnforcement is shaky \u2014 schools can block portal entry, even if it is against NCAA rules, as seen with Lucas,\u201d Heitner told The Athletic earlier this month. \u201cWisconsin appears to have escaped punishment, at least for the time being, despite the clear rules violation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wisconsin\u2019s lawsuit also alleges Miami\u2019s conduct toward Lucas was not an isolated event but part of a broader pattern of Miami\u2019s tampering with student-athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow more than ever, it is imperative to protect the integrity and fundamental fairness of the game, including in connection with NIL contracts,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cIndeed, student-athletes\u2019 newfound NIL rights will be rendered meaningless if third parties are allowed to induce student-athletes to abandon their contractual commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Chris Vannini contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n(Photo: John Fisher \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Wisconsin and its name, image and likeness collective sued the University of Miami on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1428,1318,1426,1317,1315,1316,62,222,67,132,68,1427],"class_list":{"0":"post-1001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami-hurricanes","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sports-business","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wisconsin-badgers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114718770852556822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}